KEY POINTS:
If the proposed 24/7 McDonald's in Balmoral, Auckland, gets the go-ahead, locals think staff might have to ask "would you like bananas with that?" when diners order.
It has emerged that the fast-food giant asked the Auckland City Council for a certificate of compliance for a fruit and vegetable store on the Wiremu St site on which it intends to build a restaurant and drive-through.
Opponents in the long-running battle claimed the move, while within the company's rights, was callous.
McDonald's has defended the move as a legitimate way of testing what was possible on the site.
But Balmoral Community Group secretary Justine Tringham says the company had the pick of a wide variety of retail shops of a certain size - including a takeaway bar.
"I was very surprised by the choice. Why don't they just put in a smaller-sized facility of what they are actually doing?" she said."I thought they were just being smart-arses."
She said the fresh produce shop was far removed from the company's final intentions.
The international burger chain's plan to build the new outlet in Balmoral stretches back more than a year and sparked vigorous debate.
Last November then-Prime Minister and Mt Albert electorate MP Helen Clark wrote a letter of support to the Balmoral Community Group.
McDonald's New Zealand managing director Mark Hawthorne said the company was still committed to its original plans and never intended to build a greengrocer shop. "We believe the site is a great place for us to be."
The company owned the site, which sits on a busy intersection and has about 45,000 people living within a 2km radius.
Mr Hawthorne said the certificate of compliance application was one part of a wider resource consent bid and was designed to test the level of activity allowed on the site.
The council's resource consents manager, Ian Smallburn, said it was not unusual for certificates of compliance to be used during applications.
It was not clear to him why a fruit and vegetable shop was chosen for the application rather than another type of retail outlet. The council's initial opinion was that such a shop did not comply and it had not issued the certificate but McDonald's could appeal.
